


Unbound

by mischievousginger



Category: Bleach
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anal Sex, BDSM, Blow Jobs, Explicit Sexual Content, Grimmjow is Excision, Ichigo and Renji are music producers, Ichigo is a masochist, Love at First Sight, M/M, Ulquiorra is Sullivan King, Ulquiorra is a sadist, college students, kinda slow burn, no beta we die like men, please enjoy i love this concept ok
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:42:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29280159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mischievousginger/pseuds/mischievousginger
Summary: Ichigo is a freshman college student, working his ass off to become a music producer.Ulquiorra is a famous musician, tired of hiding himself from the public.Ichigo and Ulquiorra make eye contact at one fateful performance, and the two men will never quite be the same after.
Relationships: Ulquiorra Cifer/Kurosaki Ichigo
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	Unbound

**Author's Note:**

> OMG hi guys! So I know this isn't a super popular ship, but I happen to love them together. I think they have a lot of potential with the dynamic between them for a very ~spicy~ relationship. Anyways, I was disappointed to see the lack of UlqIchi fics on here, so I decided to write my own. 
> 
> Just a little PSA to avoid confusion, Ulquiorra is still called Ulquiorra. He just goes by his stage name "Sullivan King" until him and Ichigo actually talk to each other. Same goes for Grimmjow, who goes by the stage name Excision. Yes, these stage names are both very real and prevalent in the music scene.
> 
> I will be pasting spotify links here for the songs that inspire different parts of the chapter.
> 
> Without further ado, I truly hope you enjoy this first chapter! More to come. 
> 
> "You Fault" by Excision  
> https://open.spotify.com/track/2HRNRdM9n5CvcMYkvqPpI8?si=uvwGDE4IR9CfXtuz6TyPww
> 
> "Unbound" by Excision and Sullivan King  
> https://open.spotify.com/track/5pUO56AVaHEO685BLIBsVt?si=oGsLe2KyRAGt75yI688New

“C’mon Ichigo!” Renji shouted, pulling the other man without a care by his hand. “We’re gonna miss all of the good standing spots!”

Ichigo struggled to maintain Renji’s fast paced maneuvering through the hoards of people gathered at the entrance to the venue. He kept bumping into teenage girls along the way, who would initially react quite aggressively, but immediately changed their tune when facing Ichigo. They’d proceed to blush profusely and apologize in Ichigo’s place. This usually would’ve seemed endearing to him, but lately Ichigo has found his interest in girls, or just people in general, fading. 

Ichigo had always equated this to his growingly hectic schedule, as he recently had to learn to balance college with his lifelong hobby of music. 

Ever since the orange haired man could remember, music has been his number one passion. As a kid, he begged his dad to allow him to enroll in piano lessons. He didn’t just stop at piano though, soon after he learned to read sheet music; Ichigo continued on to pick up percussion, guitar, and eventually singing. Music consumed his life, Isshin would always tease the boy for his lackluster grades due to Ichigo spending so much time practicing. 

It didn’t take very long for Ichigo to get  _ good,  _ like really good. At school, he gained recognition from the band and chorus teachers. They would shower Ichigo in praise after hearing him play whatever song he was working on at the moment in the school practice rooms. Ichigo was never one to get blindsided by praise however. He didn’t play instruments for anyone else's pleasure but his. 

Playing music, piano specifically, reminded Ichigo of his late mother. She was a wonderful pianist, Ichigo used to spend his sunday afternoons listening to her effortlessly play Chopin and Debussy on the piano in their study. He remembers watching her fingers glide from key to key, so gracefully, making it look almost like she never touched the keys at all. The best part though, was the emotion she was able to evoke from the piano. It was visible how into the song his mother was, from the animated hand movements, to the slight way she would lean into the crescendos with her whole body. Ichigo loved watching his mother play, it made him so happy to see her enjoy something that much. 

After she passed however, Ichigo was devastated. It never really got easier with time, his mom was his entire life. He loved her so dearly, and to have someone that important taken away from you that young imparts you with a lifetime of pain and guilt. Probably the worst part of it all though was coming downstairs every morning to see the piano she once loved so much, gradually collecting dust. 

Ichigo wanted so badly to carry on his mother’s craft, so with that in mind he enrolled in piano lessons, with his dad’s approval of course. That hadn’t been that hard in all honesty, Isshin was more than happy to see the dusty baby grand getting some use again. His dad also would tell him it’s no surprise Ichigo picked up piano so quickly, “you must’ve inherited your mothers musical genes.”

Despite  _ knowing _ he was talented, Ichigo promptly refused all band invitations he received. Any band would’ve been lucky to have him in all honesty, he could quite literally fulfill every position. From the keyboard, bass, drums, down to the vocals; Ichigo could do it all. But he just couldn’t bring himself to go public with his music yet. Back then, it felt like the last remaining bond he had with his mother, and he wasn’t ready to relinquish that. 

But that was _ back then.  _

Ichigo had always been more of a classically trained musician, but that didn’t stop him from enjoying other genres of music. He first branched out into rock, with the drums. He remembers fondly slamming the fuck out of his snare and cymbols on his well worn drum set, to the song ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ by Nirvana. It was exhilarating in the best way possible, even though he received quite the earful from Isshin for making such a ruckus. From that moment on, Ichigo came to the realization that playing these instruments not only was a great way to honor his mothers memory, but to serve as an emotional release as well. 

Ichigo was not one to genre discriminate, aside from country, because _ what the fuck is that.  _ In ninth grade, he went through a classical rock phase. He’d literally exhausted the roster of Japanese rock groups, and thus spurred his passion for western music. Ichigo fell in love with groups like Guns n Roses, Led Zeppelin, and of course Pink Floyd. He wasn’t the best at English, but that didn’t matter because the music spoke for itself. Then came Ichigo’s tenth grade 'rebellious and emo phase,’ as Isshin liked to call it. Nirvana was his savior. Again, although Ichigo could never really understand the lyrics, the raw intensity and primal quality to the music resonated with Ichigo in a way that words never could. He felt a kinship with music like that; the sounds seemed to encompass his turmoil of emotions perfectly. 

Eleventh grade was a strange one, his ‘emo’ phase seemed to only grow, as Ichigo grew old enough to start properly processing his feelings. He was utterly exhausted of people not understanding, yes they tried, but it just wasn’t enough. Girls helped, but not enough. Ichigo took what he could get; one night stands, hookups, whatever you want to call it. He was never really one for relationships, he didn’t have enough emotional reserves at the time for that. There was one girl, Orihime, who was quite literally obsessed with him. Ichigo never really understood it. He was stand-offish, dressed weird, and always had earbuds in, playing something good off his mp3 player. He felt really bad when she finally confessed to him on Valentine's Day of eleventh grade, and he had to turn her down. But oh well, life moves on.

Senior year came, and so did Renji. He was a force to be reckoned with. Renji joined Ichigo’s class two weeks after school started, as a transfer student from Australia. His accent was thick, but man did he look cool. What first piqued Ichigo’s curiosity was the guy’s tattoos. For only being 18, or so Ichigo assumed, this guy sure had a lot of them. And then there was his hair. It was red, like Ichigo’s, but much darker. The best way he could describe it was ‘crimson.’ Needless to say, the whole look, complete with snake bite piercings adorning his lips, was awesome. Ichigo knew he had to be this guy’s friend. 

_ They hit it off surprisingly fast. Ichigo had invited Renji to have lunch with him that day, and it turned out they had a lot in common. Apparently Renji had been born here in Japan, but moved to Australia when he was a toddler for his dad’s job. Renji told him the move was really hard, he hated Australia. The only good thing about it Renji said, is Australia is a lot more progessive in terms of sexuality and self expression.  _

_ Ichigo asked what he meant, and Renji just replied point blank “I’m gay.” _

_ It made sense, Ichigo realized, Japan definitely isn’t the most LGBTQ friendly. Not that Ichigo gave a fuck about anyone’s sexuality, he figured you like who you like, no point fighting it.  _

_ Renji had seemed relieved to hear Ichigo’s acceptance, and the two continued getting to know each other. _

__

_ Ichigo asked what brough Renji back to Japan, and the larger man just gestured to his multitude of tattoos.  _

_ “See these?”  _

_ Ichigo nodded, intrigued. _

_ “Well, I came home with them one day after being gone for a month at music camp, and my parents flipped shit. They kicked me out, told me if I was going to look like trash, to get the fuck out of their sight.” _

_ Ichigo was astonished. How the fuck could you kick your son out over some tattoos? It seemed a little ridiculous, but then again, Ichigo had been blessed with an understanding dad. _

_ “Fuck I’m sorry that happened man, if it’s any consolation, I think they look cool.” Ichigo replied. _

_ Renji grinned genuinely, and gave Ichigo a slap on the back. “I knew you would be a dope guy, Ichigo, thanks.” _

_ Renji then pointed to the mp3 player hanging out of Ichigo’s denim pocket. “Hey, what do you listen to? I’ve been meaning to ask, I saw you in class jamming out to something. I’m a pretty big music guy myself, I play the drums mostly.” _

_ “Oh shit really?” Ichigo replied, surprised to know another music fan. “I play the drums myself, along with piano, bass, and guitar. Also sing a little. As far as this old thing goes,” Ichigo pulled out the well worn mp3 player, “I’ll listen to anything aside from that sappy country shit, but today I was listening to Metallica.” _

_ Renji grinned like a cheshire cat. “Western music fan, eh?” _

_ Ichigo nodded. “Yeah, I can’t really understand it, but that doesn’t mean I can’t understand it’s damn good.” _

_ The larger man laughed in agreement. “Say, Ichigo, ever listened to EDM?” _

Ever since that fateful day up on the school’s rooftop, when Renji introduced Ichigo to the wonders of modern day electronic music, Ichigo’s life had never been the same.

He fell in love with the aggressive nature, and bassy tones of the fast paced music known as EDM. Ichigo soon discovered the multitude of sub-genres that came along with it. His personal favorite was drum and bass. There was just something about it he couldn’t quite describe. It was entirely different than anything he had ever listened to, but in a good way. It made him feel woozy with adrenaline when the lead up would happen, building up that perfect anticipation, right before the bass dropped. 

Renji was just as much an EDM junkie as Ichigo was, and the two were inseparable because of it. Music truly helped them bond in a way many people couldn’t. True, Renji could be an annoying, hot headed son of a bitch, but that was forgivable, because hell, Ichigo was too. 

_ The day the two best friends graduated, Renji sat with Ichigo on the school lawn, stretching lazily as he watched the fluffy clouds come and go. Ichigo felt Renji nudge him with a pointy elbow. _

_ “Ichigo,” Renji turned to face him, looking right into his eyes, “Let’s go to music school together” _

And so, that’s the very long winded story of how Ichigo ended up at one of Japan's best liberal arts schools, pursuing a music production degree with Renji. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ichigo you’re so fucking slow, c’mon!” Renji exclaimed, still hauling Ichigo’s ass through the crowds to the front row inside the music venue. 

Ichigo was positive they just made a scene like no other. Combining Renji’s loud fucking mouth with the way the two were dressed, there was no way people hadn’t been staring. It’s not uncommon for ravers to wear scantily clad, edgy outfits. That’s actually a big part of the rave scene, is dressing up fun. But suddenly Ichigo is feeling a little self conscious about his attire.

Renji had convinced him to wear the spiked leather pants he bought last month, along with the fishnet crop top that literally left  _ nothing  _ to the imagination. Ichigo had topped the look off with his favorite chain collar, spiked up hair, and a pair of platform leather doc martens. 

Suddenly realizing where he actually  _ is _ , Ichigo takes a moment to look around. Him and Renji had managed to save enough money to score front row spots at Excision’s tour here in Japan, and hell, was that money worth it. The venue was massive, and so was the stage, which Ichigo also realized is literally like 2 fucking feet away from him. Starting to buzz in anticipation, Ichigo nudges Renji.

“You managed to get the stuff through security, right?” Ichigo asks.

Renji flashes him a toothy grin and pulls out the little plastic bag containing two brightly colored tablets.

“Fuck yeah I did,” the larger man unzips the bag and hands Ichigo a molly tab. 

Ichigo was never really one for harder drugs, sure he’s been smoking since highschool, but he’d never had the heart to do any psychedelics or things of that sort. After attending a few raves though, Ichigo learnt quickly that molly, LSD, and acid, were pretty big components of the rave scene. The first festival he tried molly at, quite literally resulted in the best night of his life. It made the entire experience so much more visceral.

So, with that in mind, Ichigo takes the tab and looks mischievously at Renji. 

“Bottoms up,” the orange haired man taunts, and places the tab on his tongue.

Renji follows suit, the two grimacing at the bitterness while the tab dissolved slowly onto their tongues. Once it’s all said and done, they look at eachother and laugh. Tonight’s going to be one hell of a night.

Feeling the crowd grow in size around him, Ichigo only grows more excited, knowing this signals the show will be starting soon. The overhead lights start to flicker, and Ichigo can feel Renji practically buzzing with excitement. 

The lights then go completely dim, and Ichigo and Renji join the chorus of cheers and screaming. A low, guttural beat starts playing as a spotlight is shown down onto nobody but excision himself. The background beat starts to pick up a little, as the producer takes the mic into his hand and gives a warm, but brief welcome. The blue haired man flashes a devilish grin to the crowd, flicks up his bone mask which covers his lower jaw, jumps high into the air and upon landing, screams “NOW WHO THE FUCK IS READY TO RAVE.”

The music immediately changes from the background beat, to a pure and innocent sounding female voice. Beautiful and soft piano chords accompany her voice, and suddenly it picks up. More background elements continue to be added, as excision masterfully turns the knobs on his soundboard. The pace continues to quicken in intensity, and as the woman's voice distorts, Ichigo realizes this song is “Your Fault,” one of excisions break through singles. A perfect track to open with, in Ichigo’s opinion. 

Renji grabs Ichigo’s arm as the bass drops, and they, along with the crowd, go absolutely ballistic. Ichigo grabs onto the partition dividing the stage and front row to brace himself, as he headbansgs along with Renji. He can feel the bass down to his core, every little vibration reverberating through his body. Ichigo figures the molly has started kicking in, because damn, does this feel good. 

The eccentric blue haired man known as excision, is jumping up and down with vigor, seeming to enjoy the show he’s putting on. He weaves from song to song effortlessly, the transitions are flawless Ichigo notes. 

Ichigo’s eyesight is blurring as the light show continues to intensify along with each bass drop, but it doesn’t matter because he’s here right now, feeling so fucking in his element he could cry happy tears. The lights continue to strobe to the beat, and Ichigo lets out a primally thrilled scream along with the entire venue when the song climaxes. 

The man upstage looks absolutely wrecked, blue hair matted down to his forehead from the sweat, face flushed, yet excision continues to give it his all. Ichigo can’t quite tell, he’s too out of it to focus on anything but the sounds, but he’s pretty sure excision just ripped his shirt off. Actually, scratch that, he most definitely took his shirt off judging by the cacophony of teenage girl screams and hollers. 

He vaguely registers Renji shouting into his ear above all the cheering, “Yo Excision is fucking hot!”

Doing his best to reign in his focus, Ichigo manages to maintain his gaze on stage. Blinking a few times, Excision begins to clear up. Yup, shirt’s definitely off. Ok but wait, why the fuck is Excision so ripped? Ichigo asks himself.

The blue haired musician had an extremely well defined set of abs. They looked even more impressive with the glistening rivulets of sweat running between the muscles. 

Then the music started to wind down, and Ichigo wondered if time really passed that fast for the performance to already be over. Excision gestured for the crowd to reign it in, and finally brought his pointer finger to his lips. 

“Shhhhhh,” the musician whispered into the mic, “Don’t worry, the night’s just beginning.”

Ichigo and Renji almost sighed in relief, along with everyone else. He could vaguely make out someone from a row further back shout “why’d the music stop then?”

Excision laughed at that sentiment, flashing a group of girls up front near Ichigo and Renji a quick wink.

“I have a surprise for you all.” And as soon as Excision said that sentence, he turned around and gestured for someone to come out. The spotlight immediately shifted to follow the silhouette out from the shadows. The crowd collectively held their breath, waiting to see who Excision had invited to perform. 

Excision hit a button on the control console, and an ominous piano tune started playing. The silhouette still hadn’t come into the light enough for anyone to make out it’s appearance, but suddenly a deep yet refined voice started singing.

“I’ve never been good at new beginnings~”

It finally hit Ichigo that the voice singing was coming from the shadowy figure behind Excision. 

“Everything just falls apart, Inside this hell that I’m living, I’m screaming out to restart~” The shadow continued to belt, in concert with the piano tune increasing in agitation. Ichigo was highly intrigued, this man's voice was breathtaking. It combined elegance with something wild and untamed, which how that’s possible, Ichigo didn’t know. 

“Sometimes, it's loudest in an empty room

Sometimes, healing needs a garden to bloom

Sometimes, the lesson isn't trust the few

'Cause you're the last one I've got to lose~”

The music had truly worked up to quite a crescendo, and Ichigo was thoroughly in shock because this was a gorgeous song, and despite never hearing it before it felt extremely familiar. 

All of the sudden, the spotlight was back on Excision, who quickly shouted “Everyone, give it up for Sullivan King!”

Holy shit wait this is actually Sullivan King performing with Excision? What the Fuck? Ichigo internally screamed to himself, suddenly feeling very alert despite the molly he had taken an hour ago. Ichigo had heard Sullivan King before, no wonder his voice seemed familiar. He knows he’s an extremely versatile and talented musician, having collaborated with several EDM producers before, and now apparently Excision. However, the man had proven to be a mystery. Rumors had it that Sullivan King has never shown his face to the public before, usually donning a mask, which seemed like a pretty believable rumor considering Ichigo has never actually seen the man before. 

Snapping back to reality, Ichigo heard Sullivan King let out a guttural scream right before shouting at the top of his lungs, “Cause I’m unbound from you!~”

The bass proceeded to drop simultaneously with the spotlight finally illuminating Sullivan King. The crowd went absolutely crazy, whether that was because of the epic bass drop, or finally being able to put a face to the musicians name, Ichigo wasn’t sure. 

Ichigo couldn’t figure out what he should focus on first, the insane noises this guy was capable of making, combined with the earth shattering bass; or Sullivan King's face.

Looking up, Ichigo decided he wanted to take a better look at the man. His eyes widened at the sight.

Sullivan King wasn’t super tall, Ichigo estimated around 5 8’ or something, but for what he lacked in height, he made up for in looks. As surprisingly as it was to admit it, Ichigo realized it was just a fact. This guy was fucking hot. Like really hot. 

He was extremely pale, to the point where Ichigo couldn’t discern if it was makeup or not, but good lord his eyes. They were perhaps the most brilliant green Ichigo had ever seen, almost like an emerald. Ichigo was close enough to notice the array of thick, black eyelashes hooding Sullivan King’s eyes. He had teal streams of tears drawn down his cheeks, which surprisingly was quite attractive. His strikingly black hair was worn messily down to his shoulders, a few strands falling in front of his face from moving around so much. The man was clad in an outfit similar to Ichigo’s, so the orange haired man could see  _ everything _ . 

Ichigo could feel himself becoming physically aroused at the sight. Sullivan King’s lean, but muscular torso, was very visible through the long sleeve fishnet top. There was a strange hole perfectly cut in said top right at the center of his chest. 

Suddenly, everything was way too hot. Suffocating almost. Ichigo couldn’t keep his eyes off of the singer, and he could feel his pants tighten. The song continued to play, Sullivan King rocking out, completely in his element. He was throwing his head up and down, hair flying wildly from the movement.

Ichigo almost felt guilty for basically eye fucking this guy, but hey, he could always blame it on the molly. 

Then, as the bass drop built up in anticipation, Sullivan King turned to face the front row. He was clutching the microphone when his emerald green eyes found Ichigo’s shocked brown ones. He smirked smugly, then proceeded to scream at the top of his lungs, “CAUSE I’M UNBOUND FROM YOU!~”

Ichigo vaguely registered that Sullivan King was pointing directly at him, all he could focus on was the singer's face. He was so breathtaking, Ichigo felt woozy from the heated eye contact. For the rest of the performance, the black haired man’s eyes never left Ichigo.

When the music finally died down, and the crowd seemed sufficiently wiped out from physical exertion of head banging, Ichigo, nearly at the point of fainting, turned to face his red faced friend.

“Renji, I think I’m in love.”

Renji let out a bark of a laugh. “Dude, I think that’s the molly talking. Let’s get out of here and go somewhere for drinks, eh?” 

**Author's Note:**

> As always, feedback and kudos are always appreciated! Stay safe out there, xoxo.


End file.
